


One Day At A Time

by wasp



Series: Some Love Wait Till Its Time [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-10 19:11:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2036703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasp/pseuds/wasp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of firsts. Following <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1753585">Some Love Wait Till Its Time</a> but I guess it can be read a stand alone idk</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Day At A Time

The first time Zayn met Liam’s parents was two weeks after the kiss in the courtyard. Liam had to go home as planned and they didn’t have much time together at all. Zayn came out after two weeks to visit him for a couple of days.   
  
He arrives at the doorstep, earlier than expected, and one of Liam’s sister opens the door.   
  
“Oh, hi!” she says, looking at him in surprise, “you’re Liam’s friend, right? Zayn? I thought Liam was going to go pick you up? Wait a sec-.” She promptly turns around before Zayn can get word in edgewise, still holding the door wide open. She yells up the stairs for Liam to come down.   
  
Zayn winces but he’s still smiling. He’s a little bit nervous about meeting everyone but they can’t be all that scary if they’re all related to Liam.   
  
“Nice to finally meet you, I’m Ruth,” she says, turning back around. She shakes his hand, about to pull him in into the house.  
  
Liam’s there in an instant, before Zayn can even properly get through the door. Zayn can’t help laughing at the look on Liam’s face as he comes bounding down the stairs, surprise to pure delight in three seconds flat. He pushes Ruth out of the way and Ruth makes a face, shoving him back. She turns around as if to say _whatever_  and starts walking down the hallway. He pulls Zayn in for a hug immediately, crashing into him with a huge grin on his face.  
  
“Hey,” Zayn says softer once he pulls back. He leaves his hand at the nape of his neck, grinning as dopily back at him for a moment. He reaches forward to kiss him because he can _do_  that now. They didn’t see each other for so long and then when they made up they had to be separated again, it’s hardly fair.  
  
Liam keeps it chaste but sweet, resting his forehead against Zayn’s instead.   
  
“You gonna let him in or what?” Ruth says, coming back down the hallway. Liam jumps back as if he’s been shocked and busies himself with Zayn’s bags instead.   
  
Zayn raises an eyebrow in confusion. Maybe he just doesn’t want to be caught snogging his boyfriend in front of his sister, that’s reasonable.  
  
“Come on,” Liam says, climbing back up the stairs with Zayn’s bags in his arms.  
  
“Shouldn’t I say hello to your parents?” Zayn asks, amused. He follows after him all the same, staring curiously around him as he goes. There are pictures of Liam and his sisters all along the wall up the staircase. Liam was an adorable kid.  
  
“You can do that later,” Liam says, leading Zayn into his room. He drops his bags straight away and shuts the door behind him, immediately pressing Zayn back against it. The cute kid pulling faces in the pictures has grown into a _man_  now, all broad shoulders and muscle.  
  
He kisses him hungrily this time, his lips soft and plush and _urgent_. He kisses him like he can’t get enough, his hands skating down Zayn’s side and under his shirt to touch his bare skin. He sighs against Zayn’s neck as if it feels better. Zayn smiles, his chest filling with dizzying happiness.   
  
“Well I _can_  think of much better things we could be doing right now,” Zayn says, conceding. He walks the both of them back onto Liam’s cramped, childhood bed.  
  
“Missed you,” Liam says against his mouth.  
  
“Mhmm,” Zayn says and kisses him again.   
  
Zayn ends up meeting Liam’s parents some time afterwards. Zayn doesn’t know why but initially Liam is overly anxious and fidgety. He chalks it up to Zayn meeting Liam’s parents for the first time, they haven’t been dating that long in the first place and it’s always nerve wrecking to introduce each other to their parents.   
  
But then Zayn sees what it is. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. They don’t have a problem with Zayn sleeping in the same room with Liam even if they have a spare guest room. It’s not like Ruth’s boyfriend would be allowed the same thing, not under their room. Liam doesn’t touch him like he does normally, he’s unnatural, keeps stopping himself from the easy touches that have become second nature now.  
  
He doesn’t mention it.   
  
They get ready for bed and Liam snuggles up to him, clinging like he thinks he might just disappear in his sleep. There’s a sleeping bag on the floor and a hundred extra quilts Karen’s dug up but it remains empty. It’s a tight squeeze on the bed but Zayn doesn’t mind, he won’t anyway until halfway through the night when his arm’s gone dead and it’s too hot. Right now, Zayn’s smiling down at Liam’s head pillowed against his chest, palming at the damp, clean curls indulgently. He shifts so they’re lying side by side instead. Liam determinably doesn’t look at Zayn’s face, shuffling down so he’s faced with Zayn’s collarbones instead. Zayn gently tilts Liam’s chin up so he’s looking up into his face.  
  
“Babe,” he says, thumbing at his chin fondly. “Why haven’t you told them?”  
  
“Told them what?” Liam asks, playing dumb.   
  
Zayn doesn’t play along. “Told them I’m your boyfriend,” he says patiently, running his thumb over Liam’s bottom lip just because he can.  
  
“Oh. That,” Liam says, swallowing hard. “Well. I was going to. Before you came.”  
  
Zayn touches his face, reassuring, he can take as long as he wants to spit it out.  
  
“But I couldn’t do it. I thought it’d be easier once you were here and I could be like ‘Sometimes I like boys and I really like this particular boy’ and kind of like  _ta-da_?” Liam says, rambling on very fast.   
  
There’s a pause and Zayn just waits it out. He keeps touching Liam’s face, down to the underside of his jaw, his Adam’s apple, strokes right over his heart.  
  
“What if everyone just boxes me in as gay and erase everyone else that was important in my life as…not real. Danielle. That was real. Or they’d say that it’s just a phase, that  _you’re_  just a phase,” Liam finally says, his voice quieter.  
  
“Liam,” Zayn says very fondly, it sounds like he’s saying  _my love_. He shuffles down the bed so they’re eye to eye.   
  
“I dunno, it’s just scary innit?” Liam asks.  
  
Zayn blinks slowly and smiles again. “Yeah, it is. I get it.”  
  
“Thought it might be less scary if you were here,” Liam says quietly and Zayn has to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him.   
  
Liam does tell his family, the world doesn’t collapse around him. His dad looks bewildered at first. His mum cries a bit and disappears for half a day but she comes around and gives the both of them a big hug and kisses on the forehead. Ruth says that would explain the snogging, she’d been confused for a hot second.   
  
Zayn gets moved to the spare guest room for the rest of his stay. 

 

~

  
  
Their very first date is a disaster.   
  
Liam just came back from Wolverhampton and they went out for dinner. Zayn thought he’d be exhausted, wanted something simple and easy. Liam picked the restaurant and met him there.   
  
Zayn stares down at his clothes, his worn-in light-wash jeans, Mirjana’s muscle tank and one of Liam’s hoodies. Zayn stands outside the restaurant, having stepped away after catching a glimpse inside, and gulps.   
  
He doesn’t have time to go home and change. He feels ridiculous. He wishes Liam would’ve told him they weren’t going for burgers and chips, something casual. He might have just ruined their first date, Zayn isn’t overly superstitious but it’s setting a bad precedent. He hysterically considers postponing, call in sick or something.  
  
A warm hand is at Zayn’s waist and when he turns around Liam’s standing there with a grin on his face. Liam’s actually dressed for the occasion, nice new button down shirt courtesy of his mum and actual trousers that haven’t got bits of rips in them like Zayn's. Zayn startles, feeling caught-out, but Liam doesn’t say anything about his clothes, doesn’t even notice.   
  
“Hi,” he says, smiling dopily. He steps into his space and kisses Zayn.  
  
“Hi,” Zayn says.   
  
The embarrassed heat in his face doesn’t disappear but it changes into something else.   
  
“I’m starving, let’s go,” Liam says and starts walking back to the entrance. He holds his hand out for Zayn, turning around with a tilt of his head. “Are you coming?” he asks.  
  
Zayn doesn’t answer for a moment, still staring at Liam, his heart high in his throat. He takes too long to answer and Liam shows a sign of worry, gnawing at his bottom lip.  
  
“Yeah,” Zayn says and grabs his hand, squeezes once. He reaches over with his other hand, brings his face closer so he can kiss his cheek. “I missed you."

 

~

  
  
Liam’s first attempt at giving Zayn, or anyone for that matter, head is an astounding success that deserves an audience’s standing ovation.   
  
He pulls off Zayn’s cock for a minute, his lips all pinked up and plump and just sucks at the tip again, rubbing it all over his lips before flicking out his tongue. He thinks it might also just have been Liam’s total enthusiasm for it.  
  
“I thought you’d never given a blow job before,” Zayn gasps out, his hips straining up against the strong arm Liam has against it.   
  
“When we were, y’know,” Liam says, gesturing with his free hand as he wanks Zayn’s cock with the other, so impossibly wet from his goddamn mouth. “Not speaking and stuff, I was discovering the wonders of gay sex. Well, okay,” Liam pulls a conceding face, “I just watched a lot of porn. Colbie Keller had a bunch of good tips on YouTube.”  
  
“Ah,  _fuck_ ,” Zayn says when Liam licks a stripe up the shaft, between his fingers.  
  
“Alternating with being very upset about the whole situation. Not the  _liking boys_  situation but the not having you situation,” Liam says, kissing the love heart tattoo at his hipbone.  
  
Zayn laughs breathlessly, so fond and  _so_  horny. He runs his fingers through Liam’s hair and he takes it as a hint to take his cock back into his mouth. He tries deepthroating him and he manages to hold him there for a moment while Zayn completely forgets how to breathe. He gags, pulling off with an obscene sound, his mouth somehow slicker than before and says, “I’ll get better at that,” like he’s leaving himself a mental note.  
  
“You don’t have to. We don’t have to do everything like how they do it in gay porn,” Zayn says, lifting his head to look down at Liam’s head.  
  
“We can try some of it though, right?” Liam asks, pulling off his cock, keeping his hand circled around the base of his cock. He looks worried, like Christmas has been cancelled.   
  
His lips are rubbed  _red_ , Zayn is almost delirious. He flops back onto the bed, drained of the energy to keep his head up, and says, “we can try anything you’d like.”

 

~

  
“Have you done this to yourself before?” Zayn murmurs, dribbling slick onto his fingers. He’s staring down at Liam, his eyes hooded, a slow burn running through his veins.  
  
“Yeah,” Liam says, his voice unusually high.  
  
He’s lying on his back with his thighs spread open, Zayn fitting perfectly in-between them. He leans down and kisses his thigh in consolation, pushes his thigh up a bit further and strokes his thumb where he’s gripping him. Liam hiccoughs.   
  
“Yeah?” Zayn teases gently, just enough to make Liam relax a bit more, huff out a little laugh.   
  
“When I’m wanking, sometimes. And Danielle used to,” Liam says, breath hitching when Zayn rubs his thumb across his hole, just smearing the lube there to get him nice and wet.  “When she’d blow me, on special occasions like.”  
  
Zayn doesn’t feel petty jealousy over it, not when he has Liam like this, spread out and blushing red, fucking gorgeous in his bed. He wants Liam to feel safe and loved, it’s his first time getting fucked, and knowing his history with all this is going to help achieve that. Zayn sighs out against Liam’s skin, kisses the underside of his thigh again, nuzzling his face against him and Liam laughs again.  
  
“I’m just gonna put one finger in,” Zayn says, sliding his fingertip into his hole.  
  
“Okay,” Liam says and Zayn smiles into his inner thigh.  
  
He’s so cute, Zayn wants to fuck him in half. By the time he has three fingers inside him, going astoundingly slow, watching the push and pull of where they’re joined, Liam’s breathing hard and begging for it.   
  
“Alright, love, I’ve got you,” Zayn murmurs, rolling a condom over his dick. He’s already come, the previous urgency is replaced with a slow burn as he slicks his own cock.   
  
He positions the tip at Liam’s hole, just rubbing at the wet seam of his arse and Liam impatiently reaches between them, trying to push him in. “Tsk,” Zayn says, can’t help the grin when Liam glares up at him, covered in sweat, lips bitten and red between his teeth. He pushes in slowly, watches Liam’s face change.  
  
He doesn’t fuck him half, not the first time. He goes slow even if Liam won’t let him be gentle. He wants to be fucked up the bed, apparently, but Zayn just kisses him and goes _slow_. His thighs are shaking from the effort of keeping his strokes long and smooth, Liam feels so good, so hot and tight around his cock. He’s doing his best to derail Zayn’s efforts, clenching his arse and making high needy noises when Zayn fucks him deep. He melts into it when Zayn cups his jaw carefully, bringing their faces close together so he can kiss him, fucking him to the rhythm of their tongues.  
  
“I love you,” Liam breathes out, looking up at him, his breath quickening. “Zayn, god, I love you so much,” he says, his voice breaking off, his eyes squeezing shut. He opens them back up with difficulty, gazing at Zayn, asking for it.  
  
Zayn can’t say it yet. He can’t. He kisses him again, closing his eyes. He strokes his thumb against the skin behind his ear and Liam’s mouth goes slack against his. He pulls away and says, “I’m yours,” and hopes he understands.  
  
Liam grins up at him and it’s brilliant. Zayn doesn’t have to worry anymore. Liam’s expression turns into one that’s long and drawn out, almost like he’s in pain and he comes all over his stomach, Zayn’s fingers sliding over the slippery head. When he opens his eyes again, he’s still breathing hard, his eye lashes clinging wet. Zayn stills immediately.  
  
“Are you okay, babe?” Zayn asks, wiping at the wetness from his right eye, smearing it away into the laughter ceasing into his eyes.  
  
“Never been better,” Liam says dopily, looking satisfied. He kisses Zayn, nudging at Zayn’s arse with the heel of his foot. He pulls him in closer again and keeps kissing him until Zayn comes, the  _I love you I love you_  into his ear.

~

Their first _proper_  fight is terrifying. They don’t fight a lot because neither of them tend to flare up at each other over petty things, instead it starts like this. Liam is distant for two days, Zayn gives him space, three days, Zayn gives him space, a whole week. He comes to Zayn, crawling into his big bed. He hides his face against Zayn’s neck like he’s seeking reassurance. It’s too hot, Liam’s burning, but Zayn doesn’t move. He can wait, he’ll always wait, just like Liam did for him.

“I saw Mattie the other day,” Liam says.

Zayn freezes, his hand stilling in Liam’s hair. 

“Yeah?” Zayn says, pushing himself up into a sitting position, away from Liam. He doesn’t want to look at his face. It feels like this is what he’s been waiting for.

“Yeah,” Liam says, trailing off. “He said some things.”

“Like what?” Zayn says, feeling the impact like a blow to the chest. He’s afraid of it. He gets mad instead. He’s mad at Mattie for seeking Liam out. He’s mad at Liam for bringing it up between them. He’s mad at himself because he’s been afraid of it this whole time.

“He said it could happen to me too,” Liam says in a miserable voice. “He asked how I knew you weren’t going to cheat on me.”

He doesn’t say it in an accusing way, either way Zayn jumps off the bed. Liam stares up at him from the bed, eyes soft like he’s seeking reassurance, like Zayn can say something and it’ll be okay. Zayn turns away, slamming a wall up between them. He starts to walk around his bedroom, trying to occupy his hands, anything to get the anxious fizzling out from under his skin. His shoulders are set in a hard line and so are his jaws.

Zayn doesn’t cajole the rest out of Liam. He doesn’t ask what he said back to Mattie, if he defended Zayn (as if he deserved it). Zayn can’t deny that he’d hurt Mattie, unbearably so. He’s probably thought everything Mattie said about him at least twice. But Liam’s not supposed to think of Zayn that way, that Zayn is selfish and unthinkingly cruel. He’s supposed to trust him. It hurts.

“He asked what’s stopping you from cheating on me,” Liam says, he’s still saying it like he’s not picking a fight, he just wants any kind of reassurance that it’s different. He wants to believe Zayn over Mattie. 

Zayn feels sick to his stomach. He stops fidgeting, pacing around his room, and turns to Liam.

“Because I wasn’t in fucking love with Mattie,” Zayn says, he weakens, becomes unsure, “because I chose you and I thought you knew what that meant.”

Zayn knows it’s unfair, but that’s what it is. Asking Liam to trust him. It’s unfair but that’s why it’s love.

“Do you really believe I could do that to you?” Zayn says, his voice wavering.

Zayn doesn’t slam out of his room, out of his own house. He just walks out, grabbing the pack of cigarettes from the counter. It turns out to be Kerryn’s menthols but he smokes half the pack anyway. It’s the first time he’s told Liam he loved him, even if it was in a very roundabout way in the middle of a fight. 

When he comes back home, Liam’s still there. He hugs the hard line of Zayn’s body tight against his own before he can say another word. Like say he’s sorry, or reassure him. He’d do anything to make him stay.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he says against Zayn’s ear. “I didn’t know.”

“You’re an idiot,” Zayn says, hugging him back just as tight. He’s exhausted. He buries his face against his neck, making a sound at the back of his throat. “Of course I love you."

~

  
  
Their first puppy comes after their first apartment and their first anniversary and a slew of other firsts. The second one follows almost immediately.  
  
“She’s the only one left,” Liam says, cradling the puppy to his chest. He’s sitting on the ground with the puppy they’ve been promised is dosing lazily in his lap, her sister licking Liam’s earnest face.  
  
They were offered pick of a litter of mutts, half labrador, half of an unknown breed. Zayn and Liam chose Pepper because she had a spot over one eye, covering her whole ear, the rest of her white. They weren’t supposed to get more than one puppy.   
  
Zayn sighs. He reaches out with a forefinger and gently touches the forehead of the puppy in Liam’s strong arms. She’s completely white except her tail. She’s smaller than the other pups, she was the one that almost didn’t make it. Zayn knew they were going to be going home with the both of them the moment Liam was told she was the only one without a home yet. He stops looking at the puppy and turns his gaze to Liam instead. He’s looking at the puppy like it’s a little boy being picked last for football, not being picked at all. He reaches out this time and touches Liam, cups the back of his neck with his palm.  
  
“Well, we’re definitely not naming her Salt,” Zayn says.  
  
Liam looks up at him, twisting around. Zayn sits down next to him and ignores the delighted smile Liam gives him with difficulty because he thinks he might be blinded.   
  
“Of course not. It’s Tony.”  
  
Zayn smothers a laugh into Liam’s shoulder. Liam offers him the puppy. She's a lovely little pup but Tony it is, a rather incestuous christening of the two siblings. Zayn points this out to Liam, scrunching up his nose as Tony slobbers over his face. Liam hushes him in turn to watch Pepper yawn in his lap.

Zayn watches his family instead.


End file.
